Happy first week of the second half of the year. I’m finally back in London after a solid month of not sleeping in my own bed, and kinda feeling like I just moved here all over again.

Those that watched my Instagram Story on Saturday will tell you: I’m definitely feeling like the beginning of July is giving us a second stab at New Year’s vibes and reinvigorated resolutions.

It’s a second chance to say, “Welp, half this year has up and disappeared. What did I do with it? Where do I want to be by Christmas?”

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve never been much of a goal-setter. People often ask me where I find the time or how I drudge up the motivation to carry on with a fistful of projects on any given day, and my response never has anything to do with resolutions or goals.

The first answer, and one I hope you’ve soaked in after years of #entrylevelboss life, is that you have more energy for literally everythingwhen you don’t hate your day job.

We’re wrapping up Week 6 of #ELB School right now, and I gotta tell you: the thing I honestly love most about my signature guided job search program is watching my students take a deep breath, stop freaking out, and get some momentum moving in the right professional direction.

Michelle, I know from personal experience how much energy we use up when we're panicking over being (1) unemployed or (2) employed in the wrong job. It’s a crazy-hard cycle to quit, and it leaves you with no space to breathe--much less create happiness, create art, work on your health, work on your mental health, go out dating, whatever.

If you’re interested in working with me to get your professional life back on track (or on track for the first time ever), I’ll be opening up #ELB Schoolenrollment again at the end of the summer. Keep an eye out. I’d be honored and delighted to help.

The second answer to this time and motivation question is slightly more complicated. It has to do with what I’ve decided to call The Movie Montage Phenomenon.

The Movie Montage Phenomenon = the unrealistic assumption people sometimes make when you mention that you’re starting any kind of project, business, creative endeavor, or lifestyle change; the thought that, like a scene out of Legally Blonde, you will enter into a zone of frenzied achievement during which you work hard in a total vacuum and then, 90 seconds and one uplifting song later, achieve your goals and complete nirvana all in one go

When people ask me how I have the time and motivation for things, I often find that this is the subtext. They’re really asking, “How have you found this perfect vacuum of space and time in which you are elegantly achieving the deepest desires of your heart at some frenzied, super-human pace?”

I haven’t. I’m not.

Life exists in the grey area, my love. Meaning that progress must exist there, too.

I don’t buy into this idea that you either get to #liveyourdreams or have to succumb to the 9-to-5 and suffer in silence against your will forever.

I promise you, there is so much happening in between.

And speaking of, I should drop this announcement.

I’m releasing my new single, I Want To Know Your Plans, tomorrow.

This is a song I loved to pieces when I was 15 years old. It’s a song I’ve hummed to myself for well over a decade, and decided to recreate in my own image with some help from one of Berlin’s most talented guitarists, David Riaño Molina. I recorded it when I was feeling a little low in March and sought refuge for the weekend at my favorite studio, Cameron Laing’s The Curious Story of The Famous Gold Watch.

It’s already available for pre-order on iTunes right now. Yes, right this second. GO.

Tomorrow (July 6) you can check it out on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, and Deezer. In fact, you can follow me on Spotify now, and you'll get notified when it goes live.

I hope you listen. I hope it gives you something you were missing. I hope you hear me. I hope you like it.